Horner has drive to maintain fast pace to the title

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claims he has the grey hairs to prove he would much rather enjoy cruising to 
Formula 1 success than another nail-biting last-race decider.

After three successive grand prix victories since the summer break, Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel are seemingly cantering to their fourth successive world titles.

Vettel goes into the last six grands prix with a 60-point cushion to nearest rival Fernando Alonso, while Red Bull are 103 points clear of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings.

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As Alonso has already conceded, only a considerable amount of good luck can surely aid his cause, which has to start on Sunday in the Korean Grand Prix in the country’s far-flung outpost of Mokpo.

Despite the seemingly impregnable gaps to the chasing pack in both championships, Horner said: “It is my job to worry, so we cannot become complacent in any way. We have not yet, and we certainly won’t this year.

“Our approach is one race at a time, with the next challenge Korea to try to get the most out of that and then after that obviously Suzuka (for the Japanese Grand Prix a week later).

“If we keep doing that then the championship tables will take care of themselves.”

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The problem is from every neutral’s point of view the season is fast petering out, and even more disappointingly with the same driver/car combination dictating affairs.

In 2010 and again last year the title race went down to the wire. Horner, however, much prefers the easy option, as was the case with the 2011 titles.

“We have had two bloody close ones that I don’t want to go through again,” he said.

Brazil last year – from which I have several grey hairs – and Abu Dhabi two years earlier are about as stressful as you can get.

“The important thing is winning.

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“For us, we are trying to defend both titles, with our job to do that as soon as possible.

“It is not our responsibitliy to take it to the last race, which we hopefully won’t do this year.”

If Vettel’s outrageously dominant performance around the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore is anything to go by then that is highly unlikely to be the case.